Sudden Complications In Your Pregnancy? This Could Be The Reason

Women's Health
Written by Arnab Dey
June 29, 2022

According to some studies, around 700 women die yearly because of complicated pregnancies. More than 50% of these deaths result from medical negligence. It is crucial to understand that healthcare experts can also cause damage to pregnant women.

Misdiagnosis and administrating of wrong medications are among the common causes. You can claim compensation when you find any healthcare worker neglecting you while treating you. The liable party could be a doctor, nurse, or lab attendant.

Read on to learn about the common problems among women caused because of medical negligence.

Contents

1. Gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes is common among pregnant women. Generally, the body stops producing the required insulin levels during pregnancy. Thus, glucose builds up in the blood. Some doctors may fail to either detect the condition or give the wrong treatment for the same.

When left untreated, the glucose travels to the fetus via the placenta and causes the baby’s body to produce extra insulin. In such cases, the pregnancy results in microsomia. It is a condition wherein the baby is born with excess weight and broader shoulders.

Further, microsomia can cause infancy and health problems such as abnormally low blood sugar, childhood obesity, metabolic syndrome, etc. It can further cause many issues for both the mother and the baby.

2. Preeclampsia

It is a serious condition that around 8-12 percent of women face in their second or third trimester. During the prenatal checkups, the doctors check the reports and may find symptoms like high protein in the urine, constant high blood pressure, vision problems, etc.

The patient won’t know that these are the symptoms, but many doctors tend to misdiagnose preeclampsia as gastritis or flu. Surprisingly, the signs of preeclampsia are similar to the symptoms of HELLP syndrome, a life-threatening disease.

In cases of preeclampsia misdiagnosis and non-treatment, the doctors later infuse delivery pain and suggest premature delivery to save the baby. The child requires hospital care to survive in such cases and is prone to illness and infection.

3. Common misdiagnosis

Another major issue caused due to medical malpractice is a misdiagnosis of many things. It starts from the time of conceiving. Some women complain of pelvis pain and bleeding. The doctors may misdiagnose it as a sign of ectopic pregnancy, wherein the embryo develops outside the womb.

The doctors prescribe methotrexate, which can terminate an otherwise viable pregnancy. Before prescribing any medications, the doctor must conduct a thorough test to confirm an ectopic pregnancy.

Another misdiagnosis in pregnancy is with the electronic fetal monitoring equipment. The equipment helps in ensuring whether the baby’s heartbeat is normal. It requires a trained and certified technician to read the EFM reports.

The nurses often communicate or read the report wrong and fail to notice the signs of fetal distress. It can lead to stillbirth or complications for both the mother and the baby. In cases of fetal distress, doctors may need to perform a timely caesarian to provide lifesaving medical treatment to the baby.

Related Resource: 3 Ways To Stay Healthy During Pregnancy

What are the causes of medical negligence?

Patients trust doctors because doctors take an oath to cause no harm to anyone and do their best to provide the best healthcare to everyone in need. Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare members often fail to uphold their duty of care. It can be purposeful or accidental.

Healthcare experts end up causing issues to patients because of:

Administrative errors in preparing lab reports
Untrained staff
Miscommunication
Understaffed
Overworked
Reckless behavior

Are you entitled to compensation if medical negligence causes any issues to you?

The law protects every citizen regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, etc. So, if you are a victim of medical malpractice that has caused problems in your pregnancy, you can chat with a medical malpractice attorney to discuss the various possibilities of claiming compensation for your loss.

The intensity of your loss plays an important role in deciding the fate of the medical practitioner and other responsible parties.

You will get monetary compensation, and the responsible party may get punished in terms of a fine, license suspension, or jail. It depends on the case and the intensity of loss and negligence.

Final Words

You must understand that you can claim any losses you face during pregnancy due to medical negligence. Every state has a timeline for filing a claim against the responsible party. You can check with your medical malpractice lawyer to understand the laws better. The number of medical practice cases is comparatively low. However, it is better to stay alert during pregnancy and consult a different doctor if you feel the current treatment plan is not right.

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